Escape rate and time of carabid beetles from various types of the side ditch blocks

Abstract

We examined the escape rate and escape time of 4 carabid beetles, namely, Cychrus morawitzi, Carabus granulatus yezoensis, Damaster blaptoides rugipennis, and Leptocarabus arboreus ishikarinus, for 4 types of ditch blocks, namely, U-shaped ditch blocks, modified U-shaped ditch blocks with textured inner surfaces, Hydsel® type I ditch blocks, and Hydsel® type II ditch blocks. D. blaptoides rugipennis alone could escape from the U-shaped ditch blocks within the predetermined amount of time. Among the ditch blocks examined, the U-shaped ditch blocks were the most difficult to escape from, and the Hydsel®(types I and II) were the easiest to escape from. Although the escape rates for the modified U-shaped ditch blocks and the Hydsel® ditch blocks were the same, the beetles took more time to escape from the modified U-shaped ditch blocks than from the Hydsel® ditch blocks (types I and II).